Melbourne University | ||
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Full name | Melbourne University Football Club | |
Nickname(s) | Students, Blacks, Blues, MUGARS | |
Club details | ||
Founded | 1859 | |
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Ground(s) | University of Melbourne | |
Princes Park | ||
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Other information | ||
Official website | melbunifootball.com |
Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club, representing the "Blacks", "Blues" and "MUGARS". The Blacks and the Blues both compete in the Victorian Amateur Football Association in the William Buck Premier Division, and the MUGARS compete in both the Victorian Football League and Victorian Women's Football League.
The club achieved prominence by being a member of Victoria's elite competition in the early 20th century, the Victorian Football League (the forerunner of the Australian Football League) between 1908 and 1914.
Although there are no records of its exact formation, University's first recorded match took place in the same month that the Castlemaine Football Club was formed making it likely that University is the second oldest club in Australia after Melbourne.
University was founded in 1859 by students and graduates of the University of Melbourne. The first report of the university participating in a match was against St Kilda in June 1859. According to ‘Gymnastic’, writing in the sporting newspaper Bell's Life in Victoria, the ‘long pending match’ finally came off between two teams of 15. University was captained by a player called Phillips and St Kilda emerged the winners, under the method where the first team to score two out of three goals was victorious.
That same year it played against teams from Albert-park, Carlton, Melbourne, Royal Park and South Yarra. In 1861, University defeated Melbourne to win the first ever trophy for Australian football, instituted as part of the Calendonian Society's Games.
During the 1870s, the club played in the Second Twenties competition, one level lower than the main competition, the South Yarra Challenge Cup. From 1885 to 1888, University played in the VFA which at the time was the sport's major governing body. Following these years, the club was variously dormant or played in other competitions including the Metropolitan Junior Football Association, the Colleges Football Association and from 1905 to 1907 was a dominant member of the Metropolitan Football Association.